


Christmas Cookies

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: 12 Days of Ficsmas, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 17:43:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17125877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Louisa invites her best friend over to help her bake the gingerbread cookies and houses for the Christmas party. Viktor and Tyler belong to sso_Viktor7.





	Christmas Cookies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sso_Viktor7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sso_Viktor7/gifts).



According to her calculations, if Louisa wanted to give a tin of gingerbread cookies to all of her friends and still have some for the platters and gingerbread houses in two days, she was going to need... a lot of gingerbread. Louisa pressed her lips together as she dragged her engagement ring (which was, as ever, on a chain around her neck) across her lips thoughtfully. If each cookie tin contained twenty cookies, that would be at least one hundred for all of her friends in the Keepers of the Light, plus the fifty or so for the two cookie platters she planned on having out for the party, and the gingerbread for the houses, plus then she'd have to decorate them all (oh, and there would be an extra platter for her friends to decorate before the Christmas party)...

"It's time to call for backup," Louisa said to nobody in particular as she got her phone out of her jeans pocket. She had to scroll right to the bottom of her contacts to find the person she needed, forgetting about the 'recent calls' list in her haste, but she felt significantly calmer already as she waited for her best friend to pick up his phone.

"Hola," said Viktor, Louisa grinning against the phone at the sound of his voice.

"Hey, Vik," said Louisa. "I have a small problem that I think you can help me with. And no, it's not related to the bedroom this time." Viktor laughed, his chuckle warming her.

"You roasted yourself that time," said Vik. "What's up?"

"Well, I have to bake, like... five hundred gingerbread cookies before Christmas," said Louisa. "And make some gingerbread houses. Do you think maybe you could help me?"

"Of course," said Viktor, sounding like he was grinning. "I'm always down for baking. I'll be there in a bit, should I bring Princess?"

"You'd probably better bring Phantom, I think," said Louisa. "Trouble's out seeing his boyfriend. I think."

"Dios, girl, you lost your horse again?" Viktor asked, laughing.

"Yes," said Louisa, glaring out her kitchen window. It looked onto her backyard, where she could see Barcode, her black and white cat, sunning himself on the garden path. Beyond the garden was more of an actual backyard, though it wasn't exactly fenced in. If only because Trouble had broken down that fence too many times now and Daine refused to fix it again.

"Alright, I'll bring my boy," said Vik. "He can see his boyfriend, he's been pining." Louisa laughed.

"I'm sure he has, not that he'll ever admit it," said Louisa. "See you in a bit."

While she waited for Viktor to arrive, Louisa tied her hair back into a ponytail and grabbed her pale blue apron, also getting out a dark blue apron for Viktor. That done, she fetched out the ingredients that she'd need, along with the measuring cups and spoons and jugs, and of course the trays that the gingerbread would be baked on.

Viktor arrived just as Louisa was beginning to wonder if this task was still more than the two of them could manage. Maybe she should have asked some of the townsfolk of Jorvik (not Jamie Olivetree of Ed Field, though), or even asked Vik to bring his boyfriend over since Ty liked to cook.

"There you are, my friend," said Vik, already taking his jacket off as he entered the kitchen. He stretched his wings out leisurely, keeping away from the main baking area, though a few feathers still scattered onto the floor. "Whoops. I'll clean that up."

"I'll keep them for my cats," said Louisa. "They like playing with them."

"How's Rusty?" Viktor asked, referring to the ginger kitten that he'd given to Louisa earlier that year after Princess, the barn cat, had had kittens.

"I think he's living up to his namesake," said Louisa. "He's out there somewhere."

"What, has he joined a gang?" Viktor asked. They both laughed as Viktor finished stretching his wings and then folded them back behind himself to put his apron on.

"No idea," said Louisa. "Thankfully, he still comes home for food and sleeps on the bed at night with Lisa and I."

"That is good," said Viktor, nodding. He looked at the array of measuring cups and ingredients. "Right, what do we do first?"

"Well, one of us has to cream the butter, sugar and syrup together," said Louisa, reading the recipe from the book (she was a stickler for the recipes). "And while I do that, you can probably sift together the flours, ginger, and soda. Orrr we could both work on our own batch and then have fun rolling them out together. Up to you."

"Hmm," Viktor hummed thoughtfully, frowning. "Let's make our own batches and see who makes the better cookies?"

"You're on," said Louisa, nodding at him. She grinned. "May the best baker win." They shook hands, then washed their hands at the sink and began to put their ingredients together.

Louisa got her cookies on the tray first, cheering as she slid the trays into the oven (which she definitely hadn't forgotten about preheating until she had to actually put the trays in).

"So you beat me to the oven," said Viktor as he pressed a star-shaped cookie cutter into his gingerbread dough. "That doesn't mean yours will taste better."

"We'll see," said Louisa, smirking at him. "But now I've got nothing to do until the oven timer di-" She turned around and twisted the oven timer to set it for twelve minutes, turning back to giggle at herself.

"Whoops," said Viktor.

"Anyway," said Louisa, brushing flour from her cheek (and subsequently putting more flour there). "I have nothing to do for a few minutes so... tell me about your love life."

"That's a bit personal, don't you think?" Vik asked, raising an eyebrow. Louisa blushed, smacking his arm as Viktor pushed another star shape out of the dough.

"You know that's not what I meant," said Louisa. "What have you and Ty been up to outside of the bedroom and whatever other rooms you do it in?"

"That doesn't really-" Viktor began, still grinning, and Louisa sighed but she had a playful gleam in her eyes.

"How have you two been celebrating the season?" Louisa asked, leaning back against the kitchen bench and pushing her glasses further up her nose (they'd fallen down while cooking, as they always did).

"Oh, the usual," said Viktor. "Decorating the house, starting to cook festive things, listening to a lot of Puerto Rican music."

"Aww," Louisa cooed. She got her phone out, searching up something on Jortube. When she found a decent playlist, she hit play, turned her phone volume right up, and set her phone on the windowsill. "Like this kind of music?"

As Puerto Rican music flowed out of her phone's speaker, a little tinny but nonetheless there, Viktor's grin only widened as tears sprang to his eyes. He started to move his hips.

"Yes, like this," said Viktor, tapping his foot to the beat as he continued to cut stars out of his dough. He folded the remainder, then rolled it out again as he swayed his hips to the beat and began to sing along slightly.

"I can just imagine you and Ty dancing around to this," said Louisa, grinning at the happy look on her friend's face.

"It reminds me of home," said Vik, pressing out more star shapes. "Back when I was young and innocent, at home. And now, I hear it in my new home with Tyler." Louisa touched her hand to her chest, almost getting a little overwhelmed at this strong emotion. For once, she was glad that her empath abilities only detected pain, because this amount of emotion would have certainly left her on her knees otherwise.

"Do you have a tree?" Louisa asked. "You wouldn't have to go far to find one, I'd imagine." But Viktor shook his head.

"No tree," said Viktor. "Which some people probably think is a sin."

"No, it's just... different," said Louisa. "But it's okay, everyone celebrates Christmas different." She smiled, hoping that she hadn't offended him or struck a nerve.

"How do you celebrate?" Viktor asked. "Aside from throwing a huge party for your friends after the Halloween one almost made you pass out for a few days." Louisa blushed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Pretty much like this," said Louisa. "Lisa plays Christmas songs on her guitar, too, or we just listen to Christmas music on our phones. And we decorate the house and put up a Christmas tree. I've never had a real tree before but Lisa wanted one, so..." She shrugged. "And Willow comes over every so often to keep it alive."

"That's nice of her," said Viktor. "And it's nice that your fiancee does sweet things for you like that."

"I'm just glad that she's playing again," said Louisa. "She didn't play for a long time, I was starting to get a bit worried. But she's playing again now, and she seems happy. So that makes me happy." Viktor smiled fondly.

"I'm happy for you," said Viktor.

"And we watch Christmas movies," said Louisa. "Including Home Alone, because those are totally Christmas movies."

"Including Gremlins?" Viktor asked. Louisa hummed thoughtfully, frowning.

"Yes," she finally decided, nodding. "We can watch a Christmas movie while we wait for the cookies to cool, if you want."

"Yeah, I'm down for that," said Viktor. "We just have to bake them all first."

"Indeed we do," said Louisa, turning back to the workspace. Then, she crouched down, peered into the oven, and uttered the three words in every cook's vocabulary- "Cook, you bastards."

Between the two of them, Viktor and Louisa managed to bake what must have been at least six hundred cookies (including gingerbread men once they'd finished the star ones for the tins) and several slabs of varying sizes for the gingerbread houses.

"Break time," Louisa declared once the last tray had come out and the oven had been switched off. She took her apron off, wiping her arm across her brow to wipe sweat from it. "Phew, that was tiring."

"But fun," said Viktor. He snatched a star cookie, which Louisa didn't mind because she also grabbed one on her way out of the kitchen. The two flopped down on the couch together amid much back cracking and wing stretching, and then Louisa picked up the TV remote and navigated to Jorflix, grateful as ever that her TV was a smart one that could connect to the internet and that Lisa had insisted on it.

"Wait a second," said Louisa, standing up after the Jorflix home screen had loaded. "We need drinks."

"Oh yeah, hydration, that's kind of important," said Viktor, rubbing the back of his neck. He pulled his hand away, frowning at it. "How'd I get flour there?"

"No clue," said Louisa, returning with two bottles of water. She handed one to Viktor before she took her seat again. "Alright, now we're ready."

"What if I had to pee?" Viktor asked. Louisa groaned, throwing her head back into the back of the couch. Viktor laughed as he stood. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Make sure you put the seat down this time!" Louisa called after him.

"Yes, ma!" Viktor called back. Louisa giggled, her grin never fading. It was so good to have company over. And, when Viktor returned, Louisa chose a movie, the one about the boy who grew up in Santa's workshop and thought that he was an elf, and watched her favourite Christmas movie with one of her favourite people in the world.

After the credits had rolled, the pair stood and returned to the kitchen, which still looked like a bomb site because neither of them had the energy to wash the dishes. They still didn't, glancing at the pile of washing up and silently hoping that it'd do itself.

"Alright, time to frost these bad boys," said Louisa, putting her apron back on and getting out the ingredients for royal icing (pure icing sugar and a measuring jug for the water, as well as mixing bowls and food dye).

"I think we need backup for this," said Viktor, getting his phone out. "Or at least an expert in decorating."

"Time to call in your boyfriend?" Louisa asked, seeing Viktor's face light up.

"Time to call the boyfriend," said Viktor, grinning. He looked at Louisa. "If you don't mind."

"When I see my friends happy with their loved ones, I don't mind being a third wheel," said Louisa.

Tyler arrived very soon after Viktor got off the phone with him, grinning from ear to ear and looking very much like a kid on Christmas. He still didn't know Louisa all that well, but he seemed comfortable with Viktor, which Louisa was glad to see.

"My handsome boy," said Viktor, giving his boyfriend a kiss. "You've met my sister from another continent."

"I have," said Tyler, nodding to Louisa. "Hi."

"Hi," said Louisa, raising her hand. She felt a little shy, taking her yellow royal icing to begin icing some of the stars. "I'll just be over here out of your way, you two can have fun."

"She's shy," said Viktor. "And probably afraid of you flinging royal icing at her."

"Oh," said Tyler, a grin spreading across his face. He leaned over while Louisa had her back turned away from her bowl and added a drop of blue dye to her frosting, snickering as he drew away. Viktor shook his head with a sigh, but he was grinning. Especially when Louisa discovered the mess while stirring her frosting so that it wouldn't set.

"Oh, did I forget to mention? He's a prankster," said Viktor, laughing along with his boyfriend while Louisa huffed and looked down at her now pale green frosting.

"You know what? That's not a bad idea, actually," said Louisa. "Thanks, Tyler! Each friend can have a different colour."

"My prank backfired," Tyler whispered, looking shocked. Viktor snickered.

"Creative people," said Viktor. "They're good at winging it and finding inspiration everywhere."

"I know that, I'm a creative people," said Tyler, pointing to himself with his thumb. "That just means I'll have to get more creative." He pursed his lips as he scanned the kitchen, looking for more pranks to pull.

"Just be careful," said Viktor, grabbing his boyfriend's wrist as Tyler reached for the pepper grinder. "She's sensitive and as her brother, I'll have to kick your ass if you upset her."

"Fine," said Tyler, pouting as he pulled his hand back to his side. "I'll behave." Viktor turned away, not noticing the devious smirk on his boyfriend's face. "For her."

Viktor didn't discover the royal icing handprint on his butt until he arrived home, his face covered in royal icing from his boyfriend flicking it at him. But there was a lot of laughter in Louisa's kitchen as the two men tried to decorate their gingerbread while Louisa actually took the job seriously.

"Alright, that was a mess," said Louisa once the stars had all been done. "We still have a gingerbread house to build and decorate, though. Since you're an artist, Ty, maybe you'd like to...?"

"I'd love to," said Tyler, finally looking serious despite the royal icing moustache above his top lip and the royal icing lips on his cheek from his boyfriend kissing him.

"Great!" said Louisa. "And Vik and I should probably wash up after that."

"No, no, I'll do it," said Tyler, already moving over to the slabs that had been set aside for the gingerbread house that would be premade for the party. Others would be made at the party, since the pumpkin carving had been so fun at the last party. Louisa figured that allowing her friends to express their creativity could only be a good thing, after all. And it was nice to see what everyone came up with.

"You know what? I'm just tired enough that I'll let you," said Louisa, taking her apron off. "I look forward to seeing what the house looks like when you're done."

"He'll take it seriously, don't worry," said Viktor as he and Louisa left the kitchen with bottles of water to sink down onto the couch in front of the TV again. "Ty's pretty serious about his art, he did most of the Christmas decorations at home."

"That's good," said Louisa. "And his idea for the cookies was pretty good, even if it wasn't intentional."

"I told him not to prank you after that," said Viktor. "Because that went well, but I know how sensitive you can be."

"Thank you," said Louisa, her shoulders sagging. "I was a bit worried after you told me that, actually." She gave him a friendly smile, which Viktor returned before he hugged her.

"So what do you think of him?" Viktor asked while Louisa looked for another Christmas movie to watch.

"I think he makes you happy, which makes me happy," said Louisa, smiling at him. "Even if he did try to ruin my cookies."

"Let's just say that it's a good thing he wasn't here for the baking of them," said Viktor.

"Yeah. Hey, we never did decide who won the bake-off," said Louisa.

"Honestly, they all kind of blended together," said Viktor, shrugging. "Maybe we can say that we both won?"

"Yeah," said Louisa, nodding. "I like that."

And, relaxing with her best friend on her couch, Louisa hit play on Gremlins. Because it was a Christmas movie. Probably. It took place at Christmas, so it was a Christmas movie.


End file.
